GCC 4.9, Clang 3.4 Will Have Better C++14 Support

We're still many months out from seeing the release of GCC 4.9 and LLVM Clang 3.4 releases, but with the next major updates to these open-source code compilers will come better support for the C++14 (C++1y) language.

C++1y is the next major update to the C++ programming language and succeeds C++11. C++1y is expected to be released in 2014 -- and thus would be officially C++14 -- and it's an evolutionary upgrade over C++11.

Both GCC and LLVM/Clang have already been working towards C++1y support with regards to the likely proposals and changes for the language update. The current stable releases of GCC and Clang already have in early support.

Among the C++1y enablement introduced so far in the GCC 4.9 development cycle include:

Among the work items still to do are generic lambda expressions, variable templates, relaxed requirements on constexpr functions, member initializers and aggregates, and clarifying memory allocation. The active C++1y/C++14 support status for GCC is documented on this project page. Enabling C++14 support in modern compilers can be done via the -std=c++1y switch for the GCC C++ compiler or LLVM's Clang compiler.

The current LLVM/Clang support for C++1y meanwhile can be found on their C++ status page.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the web-site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience and being the largest web-site devoted to Linux hardware reviews, particularly for products relevant to Linux gamers and enthusiasts but also commonly reviewing servers/workstations and embedded Linux devices. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics hardware drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated testing software. He can be followed via Twitter and Google+ or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.